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Friday, 13 April 2012

What's next?!

After the Atacama Crossing I've started to put together a list of races and a potential race schedule for the rest of the year. I'm planning to focus on single day trail races with two intentions: firstly, I want to work on my speed, and secondly, after racing at Lican Ray earlier this year I think I can perform well at the 50 mile (80km) distance. I also believe that this type of racing will help me to prepare for fast individual stages during multi-stage races.

The definite races are all in Chile and I have a few other tentative races depending on how the season works out. As it is now, my race schedule has some defined goal races, but also lots of flexibility to fit in a few more races if I learn about something new and exciting.

Shorter fast races
These are races that I want to do to improve my speed and also to enjoy running as fast as I can again. They are a lower priority, but should be exciting and good way to test my training and measure my speed.

Salomon X-trail 21km - this is a new race for me and possibly also V's first trail race in Chile (she's planning to run the 7km). We're going to make a weekend of it and go to the national park where the race is, camp on Saturday night and race on the Sunday. I'm super excited about this weekend!

K42 Chile - I ran the K42 last year and finished 5th (race report here). It was a fantastic course, well organised and had a good level of competition. This is part of an international series and a good result here means I could qualify to go to the final in Argentina. I want to work on my speed on the downhills for this race and also plan a consistent overall pacing strategy.

Finishing the K42 Chile in 2011 in 5th place.

Ultras
I love these races and the longer the better- "more miles, more smiles!". I have only one definite race in the list for now, the Ultramaraton de Los Andes, and two other interesting races that I'd like to get to.

Desafio Ruta del Condor - I heard about this race very recently and it is so convenient because it finishes in the Mall Sport about 15 minutes from my apartment. It is a mountain bike track and across some beautiful trails in the Andes. If I do run this one, it will be a training run to test out gear, pacing and my nutrition strategy for The North Face (TNF) 50 mile races later in the year.

The North Face 50 Ecuador - this is another race that appeared on the TNF facebook page and so far there are no more details. It is planned for 30 June and would be a perfect time to get away from the Chilean winter, travel to a new country and run a 50 mile race. This is another race that I'm excited about and I can't wait to get some more of the details.

The North Face Ultramaraton de Los Andes - after the Atacama Crossing this is my most important race of the year. It's on the trails I run every week, it's hard, it's beautiful and last year I didn't finish. I want to go to this race, run well and get a great result. More than any other race on the list this is the big deal for the rest of the year.

Cerro el Carbon and Cerro Manquehue from the UMA course.

That's the current plan for the rest of 2012. If you have any suggestions for races please leave them in the comments below.